Top Congressional Leaders Side with States on Hemp Research and Medical Marijuana

Provisions on D.C. Marijuana Legalization Remain Unclear: Advocates Say Any Congressional Interference with Law that Passed with 70% Support is Outrageous

The final “must pass” federal spending bill that Congress will consider this week, also known as the “cromnibus,”and released by senior appropriators last night includes an amendment that prohibits the U.S. Justice Department from spending any money to undermine state medical marijuana laws. The spending bill also includes a bipartisan amendment that prohibits the DEA from blocking implementation of a federal law passed last year by Congress that allows hemp cultivation for academic and agricultural research purposes in states that allow it. It also contains an amendment blocking marijuana law reform in Washington, D.C., although it is unclear what exactly the amendment blocks.

“For the first time, Congress is letting states set their own medical marijuana and hemp policies, a huge step forward for sensible drug policy," said Bill Piper, director of the Drug Policy Alliance’s office of national affairs. “States will continue to reform their marijuana laws and Congress will be forced to accommodate them. It’s not a question of if, but when, federal marijuana prohibition will be repealed."

In May, 219 members of the U.S. House voted for a bipartisan amendment that was sponsored by Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Democrat Congressman Sam Farr and ten other members of Congress prohibiting the DEA from undermining medical marijuana laws in twenty-three states, as well as eleven additional states that regulate CBD oils. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced a similar amendment in the Senate but a vote by the Senate on the amendment was never held. The House amendment made it into the final appropriations bill, marking the first time Congress has ever cut off funding to marijuana enforcement. Another House amendment sponsored by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and Democrat Congressman Earl Blumenauer prohibiting the DEA from undermining a federal law that allows industrial hemp research under certain circumstances also made it into the final appropriations bill.

At the time of this release, it is unclear if the funding bill blocks the nation’s capital in its efforts to legalize marijuana. Initiative 71 passed on Nov. 4, with 70 percent of voters approving the measure to legalize small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Members of Congress have offered differing opinions on whether the language in the spending bill stops Initiative 71 or just prohibits D.C. from going further. The Drug Policy Alliance urges the D.C. Council to side with D.C. voters and transmit the initiative to Congress regardless.

The campaign to pass Initiative 71 was driven by public demands to end racially-biased enforcement of marijuana laws and was seen as the first step at taking marijuana out of the illicit market. A broad base of community support from multiple civil rights organizations, faith leaders and community advocacy groups supported Initiative 71, viewing it as an opportunity to restore the communities most harmed by the war on drugs. Two independent studies of marijuana arrest trends in the District of Columbia documented enormous racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests. Despite the fact that African American and white residents of the District of Columbia use marijuana at roughly similar rates, ninety-one percent of all arrests for simple possession of marijuana are of African Americans and are eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites.

In light of recent events in Ferguson and New York, it would be particularly disturbing if Congress has chosen to overturn the will of the voters in a majority black city,” said Dr. Malik Burnett, Policy Manager at Drug Policy Alliance and Vice-Chair of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, which was responsible for the passage of Initiative 71. “D.C. voters chose to reform their marijuana laws, which have a direct impact on how communities of color interact with police. Congress should not undermine that.”

Whatever the fate of D.C.’s legalization effort, the national medical marijuana victory in Congress will further solidify drug policy reform’s relevance as a mainstream political issue and build upon victories by drug policy reform advocates at the state level. Dozens of states have legalized marijuana for medical use in recent years. Voters in Colorado and Washington State voted in 2012 to legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol. In November, voters in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. also approved legalization, while voters in California and New Jersey passed groundbreaking criminal justice reforms. Polls over the past few years have consistently found that a clear majority of Americans support marijuana legalization and other drug policy reforms.

“The war on drugs is unraveling at both the state and federal levels,” said Piper. “It’s taken a lot of work by a lot people working hard across the country for decades but from marijuana reform to sentencing reform punitive drug policies are finally coming to an end; the American people want change and policymakers are giving it to them."